Patience
by Chaimera
Summary: Patience is waiting. And they've been waiting for a while.


**Disclaimer**: Not Mine!

**Author's Notes**: This fandom has really got me all inspired and such. Anyway, this a little... No, this is very cheesy. I blame the fact that I'm hopped up on pain killers, also, I needed a bit of fluff and such. I hope you enjoy and remember to feed the author.

**_Patience_**

**_By Chaimera_**

"_Patience is waiting. Not passively. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow – That is patience"_

_Unknown _

Annie sighed and stared at the ceiling. It was white, just like the walls. A television flickered in the corner, the white noise that accompanied the static filling the room. She stood, stretched and sat down again in the next chair. This is what her afterlife had amounted too. Changing seats in a white room with a blank television. There wasn't even a back dated copy of OK or a cup of tea. Not that she needed or even could drink, but it was the principle of the matter.

She glanced up when the other person in the room groaned. He stood, stretched, removed his glasses, polishing them with the hem of his shirt, before crossing the room to sit beside her in the seat she had just vacated.

"I'm bored."

Annie rolled her eyes and leant back staring at the static on the screen. "Really George, you've only been here a year."

"I know but…"

They both paused and looked up when the door at one end of the room opened. A stern looking woman with her hair scraped back into a bun and a permanent scowl entered and ushered another soul into the room before retreating quickly. George leapt up.

"Nina!"

Annie smiled sadly as she watched the pair embrace and George led the small woman to a seat, before throwing himself into a chair beside her, his hand never leaving hers.

Later, after Nina had told them all about her last few years, Nina turned to Annie. "So, you've been here for seventy-five years?" The look on her face was a mixture of awe and fear. Fear that she too would be left to an eternity of switching seats.

Annie shrugged. "Well, not in this room, but… waiting. Yeah. I was in with loads of other people for ages and we kept getting moved from room to room, filling out forms and stuff. Then one day 'bout, I dunno, maybe thirty years ago, they put me in here, alone. Been here ever since. Then George showed up." She beamed at her friend, remembering with joy the day he stepped through that door. "Now you're here. Dunno what we're waiting for but" She grabbed both their hands. "At least we're together yeah?"

The couple smiled at Annie, nodding their agreement. So there they sat, a ghost and two werewolves. Or whatever they were on this plane of existence. They chatted or sometimes just sat in silence. Annie and Nina would tease George and then giggle when he got all squeaky. They made up inane games and switched seats every now and then. They waited.

Then one day the door opened again and the stern woman with thin lips brought in another soul before disappearing, shutting the door behind her firmly. The man who was left in the room could barely take in his surrounding before being assaulted by a grey blur. He staggered back when Annie launched herself at him, wrapping every available limb around him and kissing his face, laughing, while George and Nina sat back and looked on in amusement.

He spluttered. "What… Where… What's going on? Annie?"

She grinned up at him and kissed him again. "You're here."

His brows knitted together. "Apparently so. Where is here?"

George stood and wandered over to them, slapping his friend on the back. "Welcome to the eternal waiting room Mitchell. Take a seat. It's going to be the most exciting this you do for a while."

"I'm…"

Annie nodded, having still not detached herself from him. "Yup."

He gazed down at her, his eyes filled with wonder. "I thought I'd go to hell."

She frowned and ran a hand over his face. "Well, that's just stupid."

She took his hand gently and led him over to the seats. As they sat down, Annie noticed something different. They didn't feel like the hard, plastic seats she had become accustomed to. They felt lower, softer. Nina gasped and the four looked up to find the room shimmering and changing, morphing and warping around them until they found themselves sitting on their couch, in their living room. Annie's jaw hung open, unable to articulate her shock and joy at not being in a white room, while the others got up to explore. It was their house on Windsor Terrace. The kettle whistled from the kitchen and George opened the door, looking out onto the road. A man he didn't recognize nodded as he walked by. He heard a shout from the kitchen and ran in. Mitchell was staring at the window, his reflection staring back at him.

George raised an eyebrow. "Well that's… different."

He poured four cups of tea and took them into the living room. Annie was still sitting on the couch in shock. George handed her a mug, which she accepted without looking his way, and sat in the arm chair, Nina settling in his lap. Mitchell went to turn on the T.V but got distracted by his reflection. George rolled his eyes and grabbed the remote, much to Mitchell's chagrin. He went to sit beside Annie on the couch as The Real Hustle appeared on the screen. He jumped when Annie let out a little squeak beside him.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at him in awe. "I can drink." She laughed. "I can drink! I tasted that and burnt my tongue but I can drink."

The others laughed as Annie sipped her tea and sighed with fulfillment. She mock glared at George's patronizing smile. "You can laugh but I've been waiting nearly eighty years for a cup of tea."

Mitchell smiled at her and opened his arms, inviting her in. She crawled up the sofa and snuggled into him. He took of his gloves and wrapped him arms around her, her hair tickling his nose.

"You're warm Annie."

"Mmm."

Her reply was sleepy.

"No, I mean…"

"I know Mitchell. Now, I haven't been to sleep for as long as I haven't had tea. Are you going to take that away from me?"

He smiled softly at her. "No. Go to sleep."

"Thank you."

A few minutes later he felt her shift in his arms. "Mitchell?"

"Yeah?"

"Where do you think we are?"

The question caught the attention of the other couple, wrapped around each other in the armchair. They both looked up, curious to see his reaction.

Mitchell looked around the room, over at his friends who looked exactly as they did when he had first met them, and down at the warm, sleepy woman in his arms.

"I… I think we might be in heaven."

George raised his eyebrows. "Thought you didn't believe in heaven?"

Mitchell shrugged and pulled Annie closer. "Where else could we be?"

George looked at his friends and at the love of his life and nodded. "Good point."

Nina glanced between the two men incredulously. "You seriously think we've been waiting all this time, Annie's been waiting nearly a century, for each other?"

Annie looked over to her, her eyes heavy with sleep. "Can you think of a better reason?"

Nina frowned and then shook her head. "You know, I really can't."

They all settled back down and Annie fell asleep, a half full mug of tea growing cold on the floor beside her while the others watched an old black and white movie. For the first time in a very long time, everything was normal.


End file.
